DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago

The DuSable Museum of African American History is dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. It was founded in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, her husband Charles Burroughs, Gerard Lew, Eugene Feldman, and others. Taylor-Burroughs and other founders established the museum to celebrate black culture, at the time overlooked by most museums and academic establishments. The museum is located at 740 E. 56th Place at the corner of Cottage Grove Avenue in Washington Park, on the South Side of Chicago. The museum has an affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution.HistoryFoundingThe DuSable Museum was chartered on February 16, 1961. Its origins as the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art began in the work of Margaret and Charles Burroughs to correct the perceived omission of black history and culture in the education establishment. The museum was originally located on the ground floor of the Burroughs' home at 3806 S. Michigan Avenue. In 1968, the museum was renamed for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian fur trader and the first non-Native-American permanent settler in Chicago. During the 1960s, the museum and the South Side Community Art Center, which was located across the street, founded in 1941 by Taylor-Burroughs and dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt, formed an African American cultural corridor. This original museum site had previously been a social club and boarding house for African American railroad workers and is now listed as a Chicago Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.